Fete des morts

Weird Holidays


November 1 & 2 are Haiti national holidays.
No school. No banking.

It kind of goes on all month. School starts again on Friday, but the celebrating (?), services, rituals, special food & music, etc. pretty much last all month.

What are they celebrating? Dead people. That's what it's all about- La Toussaint (All Saint's Day) and Fete des morts (Day of the Dead). I asked Haitian friends to tell me about the traditions and reasoning behind them. It made me re-examine my own heart & motives behind traditions/ rituals.

It is a good thing to remember past heroes & victories ( setting an Ebenezer). It is good to pass those memories & stories of faith on to our children & next generations. Even family traditions can be good if they support our faith. Those dead people can't help us now except as we look at the example of their faith -filled lives.

The music started about 2 a.m. I've heard voo-doo drums in Haiti before, but this was different. At first it was mostly just one man singing & chanting & drums. Later, others joined in. Finally, a whole congregation was singing & chanting. It seemed they were probably dancing, too. Sometimes prayerful, hymn-like songs, other times more rowdy music. It ended at daylight.

When I asked about the music (we also have a disco(?) nearby that's rowdy into the night) I was told it was Eglise (church). Iasked Chretyen (Christian?). and they said yes like DUHH! Then why at night Iasked? To pray of course! I told them I thought it was a night for voodoo, and they said yes, but also Christian. Then I was really confused. Finally, I got that the voodoo rituals will be very active for the next month or so, beginning last night, so the Christian churches meet at the same time as voodoo to pray against it. Except most Baptist churches. They don't want to have a part with he voodoo, even if they are praying against it.

It was funny listening to the 2 men who were telling me of these things. One of them thought it was too weird that our church & other Baptist churches wouldn't get up in the night to pray against voodoo. He thought this might be the answer to changing Haiti. He was afraid of what other Christians would think, also. The other man thought other people shouldn't think you are a Christian or not based on whether you show up for church or anything else you do. He thought going to a church in the middle of the night and acting like the voodoo people wasn't right or going to impress or change anybody- even if the purpose was prayer.

I thought churches & people are the same all over the world. I also love these 2 men and the way God is molding them, and when I hear music tonight I will pray from my room for them and all of Haiti and for the chains of voodoo to be broken. By the LIVING GOD